


Ruby Rose Kisses (Almost) Her Entire Court

by laikaspeaks



Series: Summer Rose Court Poly AU [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Fluff, I'll be honest it's mostly fluff, Multi, Polyamory, Romance, Summer Rose Court, it's an au my dudes - Freeform, there is no incest in this fic despite the tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-06-27 12:58:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15685899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laikaspeaks/pseuds/laikaspeaks
Summary: "Your highness, this isnotthe purpose of the Rose Court." Glynda pinched the bridge of her nose, well on her way to a headache that neither magic nor death itself could relieve.In order to put an end to the creatures of Grimm, Ruby collected representatives from the various planes and peoples of Remnant: warriors and strategists, nobles and vagabonds, even the vessels of gods. She expected pain, loss, and a slim hope of victory. The last thing she expected was to fall in love. Along with leading her country in the aftermath of disaster, Ruby must also figure out how to make relationships born from war into something lasting.





	1. like a sword upon our hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Summer Rose Court [RWBY Fan Game]](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/406518) by Summer Rose Studios. 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby and Blake's relationship is tangled up in the politics and prejudices of their time. That doesn't mean they won't try to make it work.

Thank every spirit for hot baths.

Ruby tugged on her sleeping pants with a sigh and threw a loose robe over that. It was her favorite - pale green silk, with pink lotuses embroidered into the fabric by skilled hands. A souvenir from Nora and Ren’s last visit to their home plane. Ruby had pretended not to notice Nora giggling into her hands, or Ren’s knowing look when Ruby blushed in response.

It was still warm enough that she could leave the window open, the wind heavily perfumed by the roses growing up the castle walls. They ran wild in the time since Crescent awakened, to the point that some of the gardeners took up hand axes in an attempt to quell the tide. With as much success as one would expect. Ruby dipped her hand into the moonlight streaming from the window, watching the light play over her new skin.

Queen and castle, both wreathed in roses.

Ruby traced idle fingers over the new marks circling up her arm.The tattoo-like vines covered her from the neck down, twining around her body as a visual mark of her bond with the plane’s guardian spirit. Crescent stirred in the back of her mind, slow, like a child in their sleep. She was unusually quiet since their adventure in the void between worlds. Ruby suspected that she was just tired, though Ruby herself was feeling better than she had in her life.

“Left yourself open again.” Lips ghosted over her ear and a blade kissed at her throat, one or the other making a shiver race down Ruby’s spine. “Are you ever going to - ”

Ruby hooked her leg behind Blake’s knee and twisted, sending them them both tumbling to the floor in a grapple. Blake had the advantage in size, but following the portal crisis Ruby took up training with Pyrrha. The woman was almost worse than Glynda, and her reach was longer than Blake’s to boot.

So the outcome was inevitable: Ruby perched victoriously on Blake’s hips, the stolen blade pricking just under Blake’s ribs. The threat was clear. The curved blade was designed for slashing rather than stabbing, but it was more than capable of pushing under Blake’s ribs and finding her heart. Blake's mouth set in a stubborn line, but her flushed cheeks and tail flicking against Ruby’s calves betrayed her excitement. Ruby was starting to see the appeal of this game. 

Blake's eyes glinted in the half-light like coins at the bottom of a well, altogether too smug for a woman who got pinned within two seconds. “You’re improving.”

“I had to with you around.” She set the blade aside and leaned down to brush a playful kiss over Blake’s lips, and was gratified that Blake lifted her head slightly to follow when she pulled away. Ruby giggled, enjoying getting to be the tease for once.

The tension hummed between them like a plucked bowstring.

Blake was the one to break it, sensing Ruby relax a fraction and taking the opening for what it was. She flipped them with a smooth, powerful movement, and pinned Ruby’s hands in the same motion. Easy as anything. No fair.

“Gotcha.” Blake grinned, a brief flash of fangs. Her hands were just tight enough around Ruby’s wrists to set her blood singing. Ruby huffed, trying and failing not to squirm under Blake’s satisfied gaze. Blake was sooo smug when she found out about _that_.

Blake leaned down to claim her prize, and Ruby let her with no small amount of satisfaction. The kiss was heated at first. Electric, racing over her skin like a storm brewing over the desert, but by increments it simmered down into something slower, sweeter. Blake drew Ruby in with her weight and her warmth, as if she knew that Ruby needed something else tonight. It wouldn’t be the first time. Blake saw so much from her place in the shadows.

When Blake pulled back her face was uncharacteristically soft, her thumbs tracing slow circles over Ruby’s pulse. Ruby’s breath caught in her chest, heat rising in her face to match Blake’s.

Sometimes she caught Blake looking at Yang or Weiss with this same painful softness, and far from being jealous it made her painfully happy. She wanted nothing more than for Blake to feel safe, to lay herself bare without fear. Ruby only belatedly realized that she was staring - and that Blake was staring right back.

“What are you thinking?”

Ruby leaned up and bumped her forehead against Blake’s gently, earning a laugh resonant with the purr in Blake’s chest.

“That’s not an answer.”

“Why are _you_ the only one who gets to be mysterious?” Blake’s smile turned amused and Ruby wished dearly that it didn’t just make her blush darker. Blake was beautiful like this, rendered in silver and shadow. Ruby took a deep breath, borrowing a little bravery from Queen Ruby even though she never felt more like Just Ordinary Ruby, with something fragile and trembling in her chest. She tugged gently free of Blake’s grasp - which Blake didn’t resist - and followed the line of Blake’s jaw with her knuckles, tracing up her cheek and tucking a strand of dark hair behind her pointed ear.

Blake’s eyes widened, somewhere between awed and stunned, her fingers curled against the stone on either side of Ruby’s head. Ruby wondered what she saw. In her... in all of this.

“I love you.” She tried to flash Blake a smile, and Blake’s ears flicked forward, her eyes sharpening back into their usual razor focus. It felt a little like a spell breaking. “That’s… um, that’s what I was thinking.”

Ruby’s heart leaped into her throat.

They both confessed when the world was in the middle of ending, but it was… different. They couldn’t leave the consequences for a tomorrow that might never come. Which was why Ruby’s heart skipped right off into another plane when a smile spread over Blake’s features, her ears settling into a position of open joy.

“I love you too.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole thing is 100% self-indulgence so if you're here for an actual plot you may be in for disappointment.


	2. blood was our inheritance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guardian spirit of their plane binds Ruby and Penny together, but it's love that makes the bond worth having.

The rose remained tucked in Penny’s hair.

After that first night it closed in the evenings, shrinking down to a little green bud… only to open again the next morning, as beautiful and flawless as the night it first bloomed. It was a curiosity, especially to Weiss - who desperately wanted to analyze it - but gave away to Penny’s fierce protectiveness.

 _“It’s mine, so please don’t touch it,”_ Penny had said, with the pleasantly neutral smile that was her way of saying ‘absolutely do not’.

Even now the flower shimmered under the lamps, giving off a subtle light of its own.

**Poor little primrose, is she still waiting for you to invite her into the garden?**

_Hush_ , Ruby hissed internally. Thankfully it seemed like Crescent was purposefully preventing Penny from hearing. She hurriedly turned to one of the shelves Penny recently added, picking through the piles of unsorted tools.

**I’m merely pointing out that you’re being unforgivably obtuse. The girl is mine. I know her better than she knows herself.**

Unfortunately Crescent was inside her head, so there was no way she could miss Ruby’s instinctual response. _Ours. No - I mean -_

Crescent chuckled. **My point exactly, child.**

_Hush, please?_

Thankfully Crescent quieted but it was an extremely _present_ silence. Like a cat curled up just outside her vision, with a stare that was almost a physical weight.

Unaware of the conversation that Crescent and Ruby were having, Penny swung her legs back and forth periodically, making the work table groan and then stopping with a sheepish look. Then she repeated the cycle again, seemingly incapable of holding still with her inner workings exposed. Even with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders to preserve her… modesty, for lack of a better word.

“Thank you for doing this for me, Ruby. The change to my appearance was rather distressing!”

Penny’s smiled broadly, and Ruby nearly dropped the mallet on her foot. That smile was reserved for when Penny was delighted, so Ruby saw it frequently. It didn’t help that there was a very real connection between them through Crescent - especially after Crescent and Ruby bound themselves together. Penny’s joy threatened to sweep Ruby up in its warmth, a verdant tide that she didn’t want to escape. Now Ruby could better understand why Nora was so reluctant to give up her bond with Ren. It was closer than close, all that they were wound together into a binding thread.

She hurriedly dropped her eyes to the badly dented chest plate in her hands. Penny was designed to be sturdy, but the stab wound became an unexpected weak point. It allowed the entire left side to buckle inward instead of redirecting the blow as it should have. Weiss already repaired the internal systems - and with Penny’s permission guided Ruby through the procedure as she worked - but there was no point in wasting the knight’s skills on what was essentially hammering dents out of armor. It took some convincing, but Ruby managed to send Weiss back to her work with Ozpin without much fuss.

Ruby sighed, running a thumb over warped metal. It would be tedious work to get this smooth again.

“I think I owe you this much.” She managed finally, trying very hard not to remember how Penny looked when the boarbatusk hit her at full speed. “You took that hit for me.”

“Ruby! What did you say to me about situations like this?” Penny was endearing even when she was scolding, with her hands on her hips and her brows drawn together.

“You don’t owe me anything for rescuing you.” Ruby repeated, rubbing at the back of her neck sheepishly.

Penny smiled again, and again Ruby was dazzled. “Right. You would do the same thing for me.”

They talked for a long time while Ruby worked. Ruby found herself listening to Penny talk about the spider that took up residence in the corner of the lower chamber, and the progress on the new lift she was building. It felt like ages since they last had time to themselves.

When conversation finally died down they sat in comfortable silence. Ruby almost didn’t know what to do with one that she didn’t need to fill. Unfortunately the peace didn't last long, because an itchy, anxious feeling crept up the back of her neck. From Penny? 

“Do you think it’s possible to love more than one person at once, Ruby?”

Crescent started cackling in the back of Ruby’s mind, because of course she did. Ruby did her best to ignore it.

It wasn’t that difficult. Penny’s gaze literally glittered in the lantern light. A side effect of the structure of her eyes, according to Weiss. Ruby gently nudged the thought aside. Despite learning about Penny’s structure from the notes in the hidden room, she didn’t like thinking about Penny as a collection of components. It was too clinical for her liking.

“Of course you can.” Ruby paused in her work, fitting the two panels together to get a better look at the fit. Then she pulled them apart again, and went back to carefully re-shaping the join between two plates. “I love lots of people. It’s not like… you know, like food or water or something.”

Ruby paused. Checked again. No, not perfect just yet.

“I mean I care about my subjects, and Vale, and everyone - everyone in my court. I don’t really think you can run out. Of… um, of love.” This particular subject made her flustered in ways she didn’t want to examine.

Penny giggled nervously and looked up and away, her cheeks flushing green. “That wasn’t exactly what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

“When I asked I was thinking about romance. Romantic like. Things.”

In her mind’s eye Ruby pictured Yang, Weiss, and Blake, and their dance at the ball. Blake’s eyes seeking her out afterward, and the _thank you_ she mouthed across the room. There was also Nora and Ren, and their none-too-subtle attempts to court Ruby. “Yes, I think that’s possible too.”

After a moment Ruby held up the chest plate.The newly polished surface gleamed with an almost pearly sheen. She gestured at the blanket that Penny was currently ripping a strip out of in her fidgeting. “...Could you take that off for a second?”

Penny started, as if interrupted in the midst of a deep thought. “Oh, of course!”

The blanket sliding off Penny’s shoulders was less suggestive and more like getting a peek inside a intricate clock. Ruby still took care not to stare. She didn’t like the way it made Penny fidget, the anxiousness ignited in her bright, expressive eyes.

Ruby slotted the plate against Penny’s chest and hummed in approval when it clicked neatly into place. Under her palms there was a gentle, steady whirring, more sensation than sound.

She swallowed hard, trying to find words. “There… look at that. Good as new.”

Penny investigated the place where the puncture used to be, gently testing the carefully fitted seams with the tips of her fingers. Satisfied, she settled a hand over the one that still rested on her chest, and smiled so broadly that little crinkles appeared at the corners of her eyes. “It’s better I think!”

Ruby fought the impulse to cover her smile with her other hand. “I hope so.”

Penny looked at her for a long moment, seriousness creeping into her expression.

“Ruby, do you remember that I wanted to talk to you the night of the ball? I still need to ask you something.”

She released Ruby’s hand and instead settled over her stomach, where the sword that pinned her used to reside. Ruby long ago recognized it as a defensive posture. Penny’s emotions gathered on Ruby’s shoulders as an oppressive weight, palpable through the connection between them.

Ruby very gently coaxed the hand away, lacing Penny’s fingers with her own. “I promise, you can tell me anything.”

“I want to be like Blake!” The words burst out like a rabbit out of scrub, and her words just became more confused and rushed at Ruby’s blank look. “I - you know, she loves Weiss and Yang and Weiss and Yang love each other but she also loves _you_ and - “

Penny pressed her hand over her eyes. “Wait, wait, this is all out of order.”

“I - I love you, Ruby.” It was the most miserable confession, and when her hand fell away Penny’s green eyes were dark. 

“I was hoping that we could be more.” Penny continued before Ruby could answer. “More than friends.”

Ruby’s heart clenched in her chest, and she wasn't sure if it was her hurt or Penny's. Not that it made much of a difference in the end. She knew the pain of asking for more than she felt she deserved, more than Penny would have guessed. “Oh, Penny. Blake and I… we talked about this. She knew about how I felt even before I did.”

Ruby stood and used the slight gain in height to press a kiss to Penny’s lips. They were softer than she expected, and then Penny’s hand ran up her back and Ruby couldn’t help but hum with happiness. When they finally pulled away Penny had the goofiest smile Ruby had ever seen, with eyes bright as stars. Ruby was very close to vibrating in place, almost overwhelmed with emotion. 

“If we go now we can tell Blake.” Ruby started toward the door, Penny’s hand still in hers. “I just want her to know, she'll be so happy for us. I mean if you want, we can...”

“You mean...?” Penny asked breathlessly.

It was probably unseemly to be so giddy but Ruby couldn’t help laughing, stretching up to press a kiss to Penny’s cheek. She got ahead of herself in her excitement. It was ridiculous and she didn't care at all. “Yes. Yes! I love you too.”

They went up the stairs hand in hand, into the world, into the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blake being like "Hey Ruby, if you wanna kiss Penny I'm cool with that." is so amusing to me. Can you imagine the sheer amount of blushing and running in circles Ruby does at being so accurately accused of being a gay nerd?
> 
> As a side note: Blake, Yang, and Weiss are already a thing at this point. So they had this discussion already for Blake and it just ended up extending into Ruby's love life as well.
> 
> Also I'm gonna find so many typos after I post this, I just know it.


	3. will you lead me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss and Ruby have a talk on the castle walls.

Ruby exhaled slowly, smiling to herself at the steam on her breath. The castle stone under her hands was comforting, even freezing cold and covered with a layer of crunchy ice.

This early in the morning the castle was quiet - even the servants hadn’t risen yet to fill the frigid air with hushed clamor and woodsmoke. From the outer walls of the palace she could see the city laid out below, sleeping under a thick white blanket. In the deep blue of twilight she could admit it was beautiful.

“It’s a little early for a morning stroll, your majesty.”

“Weiss.” Ruby didn’t turn from the scene below. Somehow it felt like Weiss would see the dark dreams in her face - at least they were normal nightmares now. It was a small comfort. “You can’t say that if you’re awake too.”

A low chuckle. “Fair enough.”

Weiss hesitated in the corner of Ruby’s vision, but she did eventually approach and lean on the banister at Ruby’s elbow. Ruby took the opportunity to bump against Weiss’ shoulder. “What has you up so early, Weiss?”

“Patrol,” she said, with a firmness that brooked no argument.

It would be a believable excuse if Ruby didn’t know perfectly well that Weiss rarely patrolled the walls. That and the fact she was wearing the rugged winter clothing characteristic of Michglas nobility, rather than the armor that she would be wearing if she actually thought there would be a fight.

Ruby propped her chin on her hand, and flashed Weiss what she hoped was a teasing grin. “Can’t sleep, huh?”

“...yes.” Weiss wouldn’t meet her eyes, and suddenly it was less funny.

Ruby took Weiss’ hand in hers. “Next time you can’t sleep you can come visit if you like. I’m usually awake.”

“I have no intention of disturbing what little rest you get.” Weiss shook her head, as if to reinforce her statement. “...But the thought is appreciated.”

Impulsively, Ruby pressed her lips to Weiss’ knuckles, and when she pulled back the knight’s pale complexion was flushed red all the way to her ears. Oh no. Was that too much?

“Weiss, listen.” Ruby cast about for the right words, knowing that she only had seconds before the knight’s sharp tongue dispelled the moment. “Like that night you were poisoned - what you said? It’s true for me too. I’m yours. It doesn’t just go one way. If you need help you just have to ask, okay?”

Could she just die now? That would be great, thanks.

“Thank you, Ruby.”

Despite hailing from the more temperate part of Vytal Ruby’s mind couldn’t quite wrap around snow. Her few memories of a snowy winter were hazy and indistinct, less from a true loss of memory than reluctance to reach into her past.

What she allowed herself to remember was the desert, and how the rising sun made the frost glitter on the dunes. That was what it was like Weiss broke out into that tiny smile. Less a change of expression than a warmth in her eyes, a faint flush in her cheeks. A hint of emotion, a whisper of ice on the sand, and then it was gone.

Weiss’ lips pressed into a straight line. “But you’re too honest.”

“I thought the people of Michglas appreciate honesty.” Ruby bumped against Weiss’ shoulder with her own again, and was gratified to see Weiss smile again.

The knight’s hand twined with Ruby’s. There it was - the fleeting softness that Ruby associated with Weiss just as much as her fierce bravery. In her mind they were two sides of the same coin, two faces of the same kindness.

“Pardon. It’s just… difficult. Our position is more complicated than I expected.”

“Complicated?”

“In Michglas there aren’t relationships with multiple people - unless there’s a mistress involved I suppose.” Her lips twisted wryly at that, eyes taking on a flicker of old darkness, and then it was gone. So much of her was there and gone again, fleeting and not always easy to understand from moment to moment. “I must admit I’m still learning what to expect.”

Ruby squeezed the hand in hers, trying to offer comfort in some small way without knowing the wound behind the pain. “I’m kind of new to all this too.”

Weiss’ eyebrows shot up, shortly followed by her lips twitching with sudden amusement. “Really? Weren’t you the one to push all of us together in the first place?”

There was no need for her to sound so amused about it! Ruby’s face heated.

“It’s not like I did it on purpose.”

“And yet here we are.” Her voice carried a hint of playfulness, and Ruby resisted the urge to throw herself from the battlements. This was going to be her legacy wasn’t it? Not any of the cool stuff, she was just going to be Ruby Of The Kissing Court or something equally awful.

“Yeah, well… I guess it didn’t seem that weird to me.” Ruby pulled her coat more tightly against a gust of bitterly cold wind and gently guided Weiss in the direction of the stairs. “I grew up in the desert, remember?”

“So you frequently remind us.” Weiss shoved her hand - and Ruby’s - into the pocket of her jacket. Casually, as if she weren’t in the midst of giving Ruby a heart attack.

So just - just keep talking. She could do that.

“It feels weird to act like it never happened. I lived like a Xiao Long for so long that I can’t imagine who I would be if I didn’t.” She tried to picture it sometimes, but she couldn’t imagine that Ruby. If she were honest with herself - and she could rarely afford not to be - she didn’t want to be that person.

“And, you know, hereditary titles aren’t as much of a thing with the Xiao Long. There’s no court to judge if they have more than one partner.” Ruby shrugged helplessly. “I guess I never really thought about that not being… normal.”

Weiss hummed thoughtfully. “That certainly does explain Yang’s ease with our situation.”

“Yeah, I think she just thought you wouldn’t go for it.”

The hallways were still quiet as they walked, but the light through the windows was starting to look more like daylight. It was more than enough to light there way.

“I didn’t know I would until I did.” Weiss face didn’t quite seem to know how to arrange itself, stuck between her calm mask and whatever deep tenderness was trying to break free. “Even so, I’m very happy that I took a chance on them.”

Ruby almost regretted reaching her own bedroom door, even though she was beginning to feel the missed sleep. She couldn’t help but linger in the doorframe, reluctant to let go of Weiss’ hand and the warmth between them along with it.

Weiss cleared her throat. She seemed to see Ruby’s wish on her face because she closed the distance, and very gently pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’m glad I took a chance on you.”  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who are wondering, I'm probably not going to sit down and write a chapter where the court gathers together to talk about the specific rules and boundaries and stuff because as realistic as it is that doesn't usually make for great reading in my experience. 
> 
> As a note, there are a couple of confession scenes included in this fic because there are places it diverges from canon. It wouldn't really unfold naturally if they all had the same things happen to them.


	4. like a fire in the dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang was Ruby's first love. That never really changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: This chapter depicts an AU version of Yang/Ruby where they are childhood friends who lived part of their lives pretending to be sisters (cause otherwise Princess Rubbles would die horribly) and they're still dealing with that awkwardness. If you could potentially be triggered by this content, this is your warning!

“You don’t get it, Yang!” Ruby was starting to regret starting this conversation this late, but she didn’t expect Yang to come knocking at her door at this hour. Didn’t expect Yang’s face darken she saw Ruby half-dressed. Didn’t expect that trying to tease her about it would do the opposite of lightening the mood.

“What’s not to get?” Yang’s muscles were coiled, like a dragon caught between fleeing and fighting. “I should be protecting you, not -”

“Not what? We’re not doing anything wrong!” Ruby’s insides twisted into a hollow, echoing shape. “We aren’t sisters. We never were.”

It was terrifying to sever that connection - however false it was - in search of something real. Even more so when Yang didn’t answer. When her eyes stayed fixed on the ground, her hands curled into tight, shaking fists. Even so, Ruby reached past her own fear. She owed Yang nothing less.

“I went along with it. Suddenly I didn’t have anyone in the world, so I needed someone. Anyone.” That child felt almost like another person, and at the same time the grief was her own. The pain was duller now, smoothed at the edges by time, by her hands running over it again and again.

Yang reached out - she always did - but she didn’t touch. Her hand faltered just short of Ruby’s shoulder.

“Before I knew it I needed _you_.” Ruby couldn’t help but settle on the bed and curl into herself, away from the hand that didn’t close the distance. Even in only the shirt and leggings that made up the lowest layer of her armor she was stripped bare. She almost didn’t have the strength to say it out loud, this admission of old guilt. “I needed you whatever way I could have you.”

She managed to meet Yang’s gaze, and found the warring guilt and love that she expected. It still cut to the bone. “I’m sorry… it’s my fault that we’re like this.”

“Oh little rose, no.” Yang scooped Ruby up easily, plopping into Ruby’s chair and snuggling her close. She propped her chin on Ruby’s shoulder, wound her arms around Ruby’s waist as if she were afraid she’d disappear. “No, it’s - this could never be your fault. It’s mine. It was always mine.”

If Yang was the sun on the dunes, she was just as much a light in the dark. All her harshness tempered by the warmest heart Ruby had ever known. Perhaps that’s why she felt responsible no matter what Yang said. For all her strength Yang never would have broken her silence. She was too kind.

She should save some of that kindness for herself.

Yang yelped, jumping at the pinch before surprise even fully registered on her face. “Hey!  _What the hell Ruby?”_

“You’re being stupid.”

“Well so are you! How could it even be your fault? You were just -”

“You were a kid too, Yang!” Even as she said it Ruby knew in some distant corner of her mind that she as being just as stupid. Wasn’t she just doing the same thing? Maybe, but no one who grew up with Yang got by without a healthy dose of stubborness. “You don’t deserve any blame.”

“Then don’t say it’s your fault either!” Sparks flickered in Yang’s hair, spiraling upward and dying out.

“Okay.” Ruby smoothed a hand down Yang’s arm, waiting until the fire in her eyes waned. “...Okay.”

“I’m sorry. You’re my - my best friend, Ruby, even when you were a little brat.” She chuckled at some private memory, propping her chin on Ruby’s shoulder once more. “Even when I was a kid, I was too much for a lot of people. Never for you. If you couldn’t keep up all on your own you’d _make_ a way.”

Just like that the gnawing emptiness in Ruby’s chest drained away, replaced by a familiar warmth. Yang exhaled a laugh, close enough to Ruby’s ear that it made her flush. “Looking back, I guess that’s just the kinda person you are.”

It was too weird to be described like she was someone special. Ruby was much better at playing a queen than she used to be, but she was still often plagued with doubts and fears. She was still very human after all, even if the stories that Nora gleefully recounted painted Queen Ruby in a much better light. “I guess.”

Yang squeezed her playfully, earning a quiet huff from Ruby. “Don’t be so modest, your majesticness.”

“I’m going to elbow you in the face, Yang.”

“Try it, wondiferous one.” She could feel Yang’s smirk against her neck.

Unfortunately, no amount of squirming would get her to an angle to make good on her threat. As if Ruby really wanted to anyway.

“Illegal.” Ruby grumbled, shoving at Yang’s face with one hand to try and wiggle away. “Not allowed.”

“Can’t stop me.” Yang’s voice went sing-song as she flipped them both, smushing Ruby under her larger frame.

She clearly expected a fight, but Ruby couldn’t bring herself to struggle. She liked a bit of play fighting more than she probably should - her little games with Blake were more than proof of that - but by every one of her ancestors it was virtually impossible to push Yang away.  Ruby burrowed against Yang’s chest until Yang’s heartbeat was warm under her cheek.

“Uhh, Rubes…” Yang laughed nervously, bracing her weight on her elbows as if thinking about escape. “Whatcha doing?”

“Snuggling.” Ruby wound her arms around Yang’s waist, tangled their legs together to draw her even closer. It was more bold than she felt. “Um… is that okay?”

“Sure thing, little rose.” Her voice was so soft that it made Ruby melt.

Ruby’s heart belonged to many people in many ways. It wasn’t a matter of one being more important than another. Despite that there was no other way to describe it: Yang _was_ her heart. There was no warmth she possessed, no kindness, no love that didn’t come from the embers that Yang kindled. In those first months after her parents died and Q’row left her in a strange place, when all she could see was cold and dull...Yang kept reaching out. She lit Ruby’s dimmed heart with stars.

Did she know how much she mattered?

Ruby pressed her lips over Yang’s heartbeat. Brief and chaste, but still enough to make Yang shiver… and enough to make Ruby’s thoughts to stutter to a stop. Fortunately, Yang dropped a gentle kiss to the top of Ruby’s head, bringing her back to reality before she could do something stupid. Despite her strength Yang was all-too vulnerable, and that meant that Ruby had to be patient. She could wait forever for someone she loved.

“Love ya, Rubes.”

“I love you too.”

Yang was here. That was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wasn't sure at the start that I was actually going to end up writing this particular chapter, but I ended up doing it anyway. Sorry about the delay btw, I had college stuff!


End file.
